IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organisational behaviour offers several ideas to management as to how human factor should be properly emphasised to achieve organisational objectives. Barnard has observed that an organisation is a conscious interaction of two or more people. This suggests that since an organisation is Ihe interaction of persons, they should be given adequate importance in managing the organisation. Organisational behaviour provides opportunity to management to analyse human behaviour and prescribe means for shaping it to a particular direction.

Understanding Human Behaviour Organisational behaviour provides under­standing the human behaviour in all directions in which the human beings interact. Thus, organisational behaviour can be understood at the individual level, interpersonal level, group level and inter-group level.

Organisational behaviour helps to analyse 'why' and 'how' an individual behaves in a particular way. Human behaviour is a complex phenomenon and is affected by a large number of factors including the psychological, social and cultural implications. Organisational behaviour integrates these factors to provide* simplicity in understanding the human behaviour.

• Interpersonal Level: Human behaviour can be understood at the level of interpersonal interaction. Organisational behaviour provides • means for understanding the interpersonal relationships in an organisation. Analysis of reciprocal relationships, role analysis and transactional analysis are some of the common methods, which provide such understanding.
• Group Level: Though people interpret anything at their individual level, they are often modified by group pressures, which then become a force in shaping human behaviour, Thus, individuals should be studied in groups also.. Research in group dynamics has contributed vitally to organisational behaviour and shows how a group behaves in its norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication pattern and leadership. These research results are advancing managerial knowledge of understanding group behaviour, which is very important for organisational morale and productivity.
• Inter-group Level: The organisation is made up of many groups that develop complex relationships to build their process and substance. Understanding the effect of group relationships is important for managers in today's organisation. Inter-group relationship may be in the form of co-operation or competition.

The co-operative relationships help the organisation in achieving its objectives. Organisational behaviour provides means to understand and achieve co-operative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focussing on total group objectives.

• Controlling and Directing Behaviour: After understanding the mechanism of human behaviour, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour so that it conforms to the standards required for achieving the organisational objectives. Thus, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour at all levels of individual interaction. Therefore, organisational behaviour helps managers in controlling and directing in different areas such as use of power and sanction, leadership, communication and building organisational climate favourable for better interaction.
• Use of Power and Sanction: The behaviours can be controlled and directed by the use of power and sanction, which are formally defined by the organisation. Power is referred to as the capacity of an individual to take certain action and may be utilised in many ways. Organisational behaviour explains how various means of power and sanction can ,be utilised so that both organisational and individual objectives are achieved simultaneously.
• Leadership: Organisational behaviour brings new insights and understanding to the practice and theory of leadership. It identifies various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is more appropriate in a given situation. Thus, managers can adopt styles keeping in view the various dimensions of organisations, individuals and situations.
• Communication: Communication helps people to come in contact with each other. To achieve organisational objectives, the communication must be effective. The communication process and its work in inter-personal dynamics have been evaluated by organisational behaviour.
• Organisational Climate: Organisational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting human behaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improving the satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment.
• Organisational Adaptation: Organisations, as dynamic entities are characterised by pervasive changes. Organisations have to adapt themselves to the environmental changes by making suitable, internal arrangements such as convincing employees who normally have the tendency of resisting any changes.

LEVELS OF ANALYSIS

Organisational behaviour can be viewed from different perspectives or levels of analysis. At one level, the organisation can be viewed as consisting of individuals working on tasks in the pursuit of the organisational goals. A second level of analysis focuses upon the interaction among organisational members as they work in' teams, groups and departments. Finally, organisational behaviour can be analysed from the perspective of the organisation as a whole.

• Organisation at the Individual Level: Organisational behaviour can be studied in the perspective of individual members of the organisation. This approach to organisational behaviour draws heavily on the discipline of psychology and explains why individuals behave and react the way they do to different organisational policies, practices and procedures. Within this perspective, psychologically based theories of learning, motivation, satisfaction and leadership are brought to bear upon the behaviour and performance of individual members of an organisation. Factors such as attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and personalities are taken into account and their impact upon individuals’ behaviour and performance on the job is studied.
• Organisation at the Group Level: People rarely work independently in organisations; they have to necessarily work in coordination to meet the organisational goals. This frequently results in people working together in teams, committees and groups. How do people work together in groups? What factors determine whether group will be cohesive and productive? What types of tasks could be assigned to groups? These are some of the questions that can be asked about the effective functioning of groups in organisations. An important component of organisational behaviour involves the application of knowledge and theories from social psychology to the study of groups in organisations.
• Organisation at the Organisational Level: Some organisational behaviour researchers take the organisation as a whole as their object of study. This j macro perspective on organisational behaviour draws heavily on theories and concepts from the discipline of 'sociology'. Researchers seek to understand the implications of the relationship between the organisation and its environment for the effectiveness of the organisation. Emphasis is placed upon understanding how organisational structure and design influences the effectiveness of an organisation. Other factors such as the technology employed by the organisation, the size of the organisation and the organisation's age are also examined and their implications for effective organisational functioning are explored.

These different perspectives on the study of organisational behaviour are not in conflict with one another. Instead they are complementary. A full and complete understanding of the nature of organisations and the determinants of their effectiveness requires a blending of knowledge derived from each perspective.

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organisational behaviour starts with the following six fundamental  concepts revolving around the nature of people and organisations:

The nature of people:

• Individual differences
• A whole person
• Motivated behaviour
• Value of the person

The nature of organisation:

• Social system
• Mutual interest
• Individual Differences: Individuals are different in their physical and mental traits. They are different not only in the physical appearance such as sex, age, height, weight, complexion and so on but also different in their psychological trait such as intelligence, attitude, motivation and perception. This belief that each person is different from all others is typically called the 'Law of Individual Differences'. Individual differences mean that the management has to treat them differently to get the best out of them.
• A Whole Person: Though the organisation may feel that they are employing only the individual's skill or intelligence, in fact, they employ the 'whole person'. This means that individual does not have only the skill and intelligence but he has a personal life, needs and desires as well. In other words, his personal life cannot be separated from his work life since people function as total human beings.

When management practices organisational behaviour, it is not only trying to develop a better employee but it also wants to develop a 'better person' in terms of all round growth and development. The benefit will extend beyond the firm into the larger society in which each employee lives.

• Motivated behaviour: It is the urge of the individual to satisfy a particular need that motivates him to do an act. The motivation could be positive or negative.

      Motivation is essential for the proper functioning of organisations. The organisation can show to its employees how certain actions will increase their need fulfilment.

• Value of the Person: It is more an ethical philosophy. It stresses that people are to be treated with respect and dignity. Every job, however simple, entitles the people who do it to proper respect and recognition of their unique aspirations and abilities.  Since organisational behaviour involves people, ethical philosophy is involved in one way or the other.

The nature of an organisation can be understood with the help of tjie description of following two points:

• Social System: A system is a group of independent and interrelated elements comprising a unified whole. In context with an organisation, the individuals of a society are considered as a system organised by a characteristic pattern of relationships having a distinctive culture and values. It is also called social organisation or social structure. It can be further divided into following categories:

• Feudal system: This is a social system, which is developed in Europe in the 8th Century. A political and economic system based on the holding of. land and relation of lord to vassal and characterized by homage, legal and military service of tenants, and forfeiture.
• Patriarchate: This is social system, in which a male is considered to be the family head and title or surname is traced through his chain. In other words, power lies in his hands.
• Matriarchate: This is social system, in which a female is considered to be the family head and title or surname is traced through her chain. In other words, power lies in her hands.
• Meritocracy: This is a social system, in which power vests in the hands of the person with superior intellects.
• Class Structure: This is a social system of different classes with in a society.
• Segregation: This is a social system, which provides separate facilities for minority groups of a society.

• Mutual Interest: Organisational relationships are most likely to be strong if different groups can negotiate strategies. This can be defined as the interests that are common to both the parties and are related to the accomplishment of their respective goals. This space for sharing ideas builds trust. Individuals who have shared mutual interests are likely to make their organisation the strongest, because even though the views are different they have a shared concern for similar objectives. It is important for the individuals to think about their issues openly, and to incorporate the perspectives of their colleagues. This helps to build sustainable and harmonious activities that can operate in the mutual direct interests of the organisation.

Holistic Organisational Behaviour: When the above six concepts of organi­sational behaviour are considered together, they provide a holistic concept of the subject. Holistic organisational behaviour interprets people-organisation relation­ships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organisation and whole social system.

Thus, the blending of nature of people and organisation results in an holistic organisational behaviour.